"Billy Jack" the Movie

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Just got around to watching the "Billy Jack" movie I got from my sister for Christmas.

I remember going to the movies to see it sometime in the early 70s (it was first released in 1971 but bombed. It did much better on its re-release in 1973). This was the second movie with Tom Laughlin in the role of Billy Jack. The first movie was called "Born Losers" and Billy Jack was going up against a motorcycle gang led by a friend he grew up with. (And BTW, those gang members would be eaten alive by today's Hell's Angels or Outlaws!)

Watching it tonight was from two different perspectives:

The first was remembering the times, and the attitudes in the late 60s/early 70s about hippies, free love, pot, the Viet Nam war, and the injustice and inequality regarding the different races ("Billy Jack" was about Native Americans and other races on an Indian reservation school).

The second perspective was watching it with today's attitudes, feelings, ideas, etc. Which have certainly changed since then.

The first time I saw the movie I thought it was absolutely great. I talked my brother into going. He didn't want to at first - he had just returned from Viet Nam and didn't know what the story was really about, other than from the previews showing Billy Jack kicking ass. But after the first time, he/we had to go back and see it again.

But after watching it this time, I realized not only how cheesy and corny the dialog was, and what bad actors some of the cast members were, but how inflammatory and biased the movie really was. It pushed every button it could about how bigoted most white men (and women) were when it came to accepting the new and different ideas, concepts, beliefs and lifestyles of the younger generation.

But looking at it from the 1960s/1970s perspective, it was pretty accurate about The Establishment and The Man. (If you don't know what that means, ask your grandparents.)

Was it a good movie? Not really, from an acting/dialog/editing point of view.

Was it an important movie? For the 70s, trying to expose the injustice and inequality of the white established authority, and the attitudes of the older generation, then I'd have to say yes. (Not that it showed anything that people didn't already know.)

There were a few familiar faces, but the only one I can put a name to is Howard Hessman (Johnny Fever on the old "WKRP" series, "Head of the Class" and tons of guest-starring roles). Don't recall ever seeing any of the younger cast members in anything else.

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"Sorry for your loss."

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It seems like every TV show that has somebody being killed also has somebody, usually a cop or a doctor, saying to the bereaved, "Sorry for your loss."

Maybe it's supposed to give some measure of comfort, but it has gotten SO clichéd that it's like hearing 'Have a nice day" -- it's so over used it no longer has any real meaning.

I don't know if cops and doctors in real life actually say that, but if somebody I knew died, and if somebody said that to me, I think I'd tell him or her to 'take your phony-sounding sympathy and shove it up your ass.'

That's all.

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Do not, "Not" NOT rent a car from Enterprise!!!

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Last week my daughter went to Enterprise to rent a car for the week to go south to visit a friend. She wanted a compact - cheap on gas. Instead, she got a V-8 Mercury Marquis, a gas guzzler. She couldn't wait for another car so she took this one.

You know how they fill the tank and tell you to bring it back full or they will charge an outrageous price for gas? Well this one was just below 1/4 full, so it cost her over $40 to fill the tank before she could leave for her trip.

She got to her destination, and two days later, on a Sunday, a heater hose broke, and the only place open, and close enough to fix it, charged her almost $100.

And as she was waiting, she was looking over the contract, she found they were charging her about $17 per day for insurance she specifically told then she DIDN'T want!

And because she didn't think to call the 800 number for Enterprise (the office was closed on Sunday) they refused to reimburse her for the cost of the heater hose.

And so, I repeat --

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, RENT A CAR FROM ENTERPRISE!!!!

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New Year's Day 2012

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Well, it's a NEW YEAR ... and as far as I can tell -- nothing much has changed.

I will have to get out my check book and deposit slips and write 2012 on the date line because I always forget if I don't.

2011 wasn't so great, work-wise, but it was better than 2010. I'm in construction, and it slowly seems to be getting better, but it would be even better if I could get 52 forty-hour paychecks, something I haven't done since 2008. I lost about $10,000 in pay in 2009 compared to 2008. If I'd had a family to support I would have been in deep d00.

But I guess I should be grateful I even have a job. My sister was out of work almost a year, and she was able to collect unemployment checks. So she and her husband were able to get by, but they had no health insurance (he owns his own business and his work was down and they couldn't afford to self-insure themselves).

But I guess I should be grateful I even have a job.

Maybe 2012 will be better (at least until Doomsday arrives on Dec 21).

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New Year's Resolutions

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The New Year number 2012 is right here........

And it is time for those New Year Resolutions everyone makes, and everyone swears they will keep...but never do.

MY Resolution is the same one I make every year...and that is-- "To only make ONE Resolution every year."

And I just made it.

But...I heard on the radio today about making Resolutions for OTHER people---people who obviously need them. So here are my Resolutions for other people:

*To my daughter, my granddaughter, and my grandson --

RESOLVE: To get off the damned pills, the pot and the food stamps. Get a job and show some adult responsibility!

*To Pres Hussein Obama --

RESOLVE: to resign immediately, return to Hawaii, and never be seen or heard from again!

*To all those crappy drivers who go too slow --

RESOLVE: to drive the speed limit, not 3, 4, 5, etc. mph below the posted limit!

*To Progressive Insurance Company --

RESOLVE: to get rid of that disgusting, nauseating, vomit-inducing, red-lipped piece of shit on your TV commercials!

*To anyone who has never seen or heard of Grace Helbig --

RESOLVE: to go to YouTube or MyDamnChannel and watch her daily Vlogs (video blogs)!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=grace+helbig&oq=grace+helbig&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=9075l11921l0l12231l12l12l0l4l4l0l204l1009l3.4.1l8l0

http://www.mydamnchannel.com/Daily_Grace/Week_190/Fri122ILIKEYOU_8064.aspx

You won't be sorry!!

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Christmas is over ---IT'S ABOUT DAMNED TIME!!

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I'm not really a Grinch. I just don't like the Christmas season.

And it's not that it's too commercialized, or because everybody who isn't a Christian gets insulted because the holidays started out as a Christian holiday but they want to be included but not in a Christian way, or because the roads and stores are clogged with the most un-merriest people around, or because you are expected to go out and find that perfect gift for everybody.

Mainly, it's because I'm not in that 3 - 18 age group (who Xmas should REALLY be for!). Sure, it's nice to buy stuff for your sweetie or spouse or grown kids, when you know what they want/like, or have plenty of $$ to spend. But if you go out and just watch the Xmas shoppers you will see that they are angry, impatient, aggravated, grouchy ... anything but happy and jolly and full of Christmas spirit (the exception being Christmas "spirits" - if you know what I mean).

About the only good thing I can think of coming from this time of year is a paid day off from work. I don't have to get up at 5:30; I don't have to go out into the cold; I don't have to spend all day at work when I could be home where it is warm and I can sit around and watch TV or nap or piddle around doing whatever interests me.

And it's only a week away from New Year's, and another paid holiday.

Okay, maybe I am a little bit of a Grinch. So sue me.
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I LOVE the cold!

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Winter is coming on, meaning the temps will be/have been dropping down to near freezing and below. And there are two things that really irritate me (well actually there are about two million things).

The first is people walking around saying over and over just how much they love cold weather, despite the fact that they are bundled up with sweatshirts and jackets and gloves. If they like the cold so much, then why aren't they wearing shorts and T shirts? In fact, if I were KING, every person who says that would be forced to wear nothing BUT shorts and T shirts. Then we'd see just how much they LOVE cold weather.

The other thing that pisses me off is the weather people on TV talking about how nice it is to have a change of weather when the temperature drops. Sure, it's nice for THEM - they go from a heated house to a heated vehicle to a heated studio! Not everyone can work inside. There are many of us who go from a heated house to a heated vehicle to a frigid outdoors job!

And again, if I were KING, these people would have to give their weather reports in T shirts and shorts standing outside - all day long until they go home for the day.
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